From the Bear Network

#BearTuesday is right around the corner! This annual day of giving is your opportunity to support a campus cause that’s close to your heart. For Nancy Wendirad ’05, that cause is the Cumbres Teacher Preparation Program.

Each year, hundreds of employees step up to make gifts during the Team UNC campaign. This year, 359 faculty, staff and faculty emeriti made gifts through the Team UNC. Together, they gave more than $100,000 to the university, making this the most successful Team UNC campaign yet!

Although they live more than 1,000 miles apart, and their time as UNC students is separated by more than 30 years, Alumnus Richard Smith, BS ’81, and Sophomore Darren DeLaCroix have more in common than meets the eye.

Scholarship recipients and twin sisters Sandra and Cassandra Toca help donors understand that scholarship funds offer more than financial support.

UNC student, Rachael Carrillo ’20 (Sociology), says guidance from university staff and support from the Reisher Family and Stryker Institute for Leadership Development scholarships is the only reason she’s a Bear today.

Thanks to an estate gift left by long time UNC friend and Northern Colorado business leader Larry Vosmera, UNC creates a new scholarship for veteran, active duty or ROTC students majoring in business. The fund will also name a space in the new Campus Commons.

UNC means something special to each of us, and so our choice to support an area of campus – a specific program, department or opportunity – is personal. But what if we all came together to champion our favorite cause on the same day? What if we encouraged fellow Bears in our network to do the same. That’s what Bear Tuesday is all about.

Bears take care of Bears, and being part of the Bear community means, no matter where you are, you’re never without a helping hand when you need it most. When student Bianca Acosta suffered extensive damage to her home and faced the impossible choice to either drop out of school to afford to fix it or stay in school and risk homelessness with her 10-year-old daughter, her UNC network took action to help. We asked Bianca to share her story.

Love for the game of tennis and the theatre, coupled with a desire to make a difference, led heart surgeon Dr. Ken Richards and wife Beth Richards to establish student scholarships funding their passions.